If one analyses the recent Hungarian election results, the defeat of Viktor Orbán, their autocratic prime minister, required not an extraordinary election campaign or new messaging but rather the construction of a broad, diverse, and patriotic grassroots social movement. And by doing exactly that, Hungary’s opposition parties changed politics around the world and have lit a flame of hope for citizens suffering dictatorship in many countries. Orbán’s loss negates the assumption of invincibility that pervades the MAGA movement or the Modi reign as well as the belief”also present in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rhetoric”that illiberal and bigoted parties are divinely ordained not just to win but to control the levers of power forever, because they have the support of the 'real' people. History doesn’t function that way. Real people grow tired of their rulers, ennui sets in, conventional ideas turn stale, and educated youngsters start questioning orthodoxy . If Orbán can lose, then his Indian, Russian and American counterparts can lose too. A cautionary tale for Modi and his cohorts who think that they are unconquerable, the signs of the beginning of the end are quite visible. Authoritarianism has an expiry date.
